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Interest in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics
(STEM) can lead to a wide variety of careers. A few examples:exploring photonic nanostructures
that can improve the efficiency of solar energy generationobserving
micro-organisms in the Arctic ice to learn more about lifeforms of all sortsdeveloping optical systems for noninvasive diagnosis of tumors inside the bodyassessing the radiation hazard to be incurred by humans travelling to the Moon,
Mars, and beyond.
The paths to all careers include some challenges. For anyone
looking at a career in STEM, the latest edition of a free annual publication offering
insights on those paths has just been released.
The 12th edition of the Women in Optics Planner published by
SPIE contains more insights from more than 30 women discussing their interests
and occupations and offering advice. Among their stories: Perla Marlene Viera-Gonzalez, a PhD student at the Universidad
Autónoma de Nuevo León, specializes in optical design applied to so…

Harvesting, collecting, and deriving
usable energy from the Sun and other sustainable sources for people around our
planet has made important leaps forward of late. Whether it is summer or winter
in your part of the world, that’s excellent news for our future energy needs.
An open-access article in the Journal
of Photonics for Energy co-authored
by nine international experts* details some of those advances. Here’s a short
list from their review of the state of the art, titled "The role of photonics in energy."
1. Making cheaper and more efficient solar
cells
Today’s solar cells are based on
inorganic semiconductors -– particularly silicon, the second most abundant
material in the Earth’s crust. However, silicon solar cells, although
relatively expensive to manufacture, are not the most efficient at converting solar
energy into electrical energy.
Solar cells based on other
semiconductors are more efficient at conversion but also cost more to make.
A new generation of solar c…

The approach of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in
early December has global leaders from every sector thinking about technology opportunities
to help meet greenhouse-gas-emissions reduction goals in an effort to mitigate climate
change.
Photonics technologies
play an important part in enabling and driving applications that support
sustainable development and the green economy. Researchers, engineers, and
developers in the optics and photonic community are continually finding new
ways to enhance our lives with these technologies.
But there is another
sort of opportunity for the photonics community to take up: speaking out about
the urgency to take action, particularly in the face of climate-change
skepticism or denial.
UK Astronomer Royal Sir
Martin Rees is among scientists who are doing so. Framing the issue in a recent
commentary in the Financial Times, he
characterized this century as the first in the Earth’s 45-million-year history
when “one species -- ours …

Authored by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, the Photonics for a Better World blog focuses on research news and the many ways technologies are applied to advance science and improve quality of life, and on the people who make that happen.